![]() ![]() The superego represents the inhibitions of instinct and the control of impulses through the incorporation of parental and societal standards. The acquisition of language, started during the second and third years, provides a powerful tool for the development of logical thought processes as well as allowing communication and control of the environment.Īs the individual continues to develop, the ego is further differentiated and the superego develops. ![]() The accumulation and retention of memories of past events is necessary for internal processes of thought and judgment. By not reacting directly, the ego develops the capacity to test reality vicariously, to imagine the consequences of one or another course of action, and to decide upon future directions to achieve probable ends. The learned separation of stimulation and response allows the interposition of more complex intellectual activities such as thinking, imagining, and planning. ![]() This delay is prototypic of the ego’s role in later personality functioning. The delay of action, while tolerating the consequent tension, is the basis for all more-advanced ego functions. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.Īt the outset, perception and motor activity are closely tied, with stimulation immediately provoking motor action. Mechanisms evolve for controlling tension while seeking means by which gratifications can be obtained, and these mechanisms develop into increasingly complex forms of mastery. The infantile ego develops in relation to the external world and reflects (as psychoanalysis has emphasized) the helpless and dependent infant’s efforts to alter or alleviate painfully intense stimuli. Learning is limited to the simplest type of stimulus-response conditioning. At this stage perception is primitive and diffuse, motor activity is gross and uncoordinated, and self-locomotion is impossible. The newborn human infant reacts to but cannot control, anticipate, or alter sources of stimulation, be they external or internal. The ego, once developed, is capable of change throughout life, particularly under conditions of threat, illness, and significant changes in life circumstances. The ego is not coextensive with either the personality or the body, although body concepts form the core of early experiences of self. The ego gives continuity and consistency to behaviour by providing a personal point of reference which relates the events of the past (retained in memory) with actions of the present and of the future (represented in anticipation and imagination). (Read Sigmund Freud’s 1926 Britannica essay on psychoanalysis.)Īccording to psychoanalytic theory, the ego coexists with the id (said to be the agency of primitive drives) and superego (considered to be the ethical component of personality) as one of three agencies proposed by Sigmund Freud in description of the dynamics of the human mind.Įgo (Latin: “I”), according to Freud, comprises the executive functions of personality by serving as the integrator of the outer and inner worlds as well as of the id and the superego. It is said to be the part that remembers, evaluates, plans, and in other ways is responsive to and acts in the surrounding physical and social world.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |